Ecology of the Shortgrass Steppe

published by administrator on Thu, 2012-03-15 16:28

Author:

William Lauenroth

I. C. Burke

Ecology of the Shortgrass Steppe: A Long-Term Perspective summarizes and synthesizes more than sixty years of research that has been conducted throughout the shortgrass region in North America. The shortgrass steppe was an important focus of the International Biological Program's Grassland Biome project, which ran from the late 1960s until the mid-1970s. The work conducted by the Grassland Biome project was preceded by almost forty years of research by U.S. Department of Agriculture researchers-primarily from the Agricultural Research Service-and was followed by the Shortgrass Steppe Long-Term Ecological Research project. This volume is an enormously rich source of data and insight into the structure and function of a semiarid grassland.

Review:

"This book provides a comprehensive overview of short-grass steppe ecology and an excellent overview of the historical and current context against which future changes will be compared." -- Journal of Environmental Quality

"A "must-have" operating guide for understanding this ecosystem and should be required reading for any social scientist trying to describe or explain the region's history, depopulation, land use changes, and other human responses backdropped by the unique shortgrass steppe." -- Great Plains Research

"Much of what we know about grasslands stems from over 40 years of research at the Shortgrass Steppe Long-Term Ecological Research station, which is complied in this volume by 34 authors. Moving beyond important early chapters that provide descriptive context for the shortgrass steppe, several contributions provide a deep population-level understanding of how the dominant grass, Bouteloua gracilis responds to disturbance and environmental drivers." -- The Quarterly Review of Biology

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Cooperative Agreements #DEB#9634135 (3/15/97 - 2/29/04), DEB#0236154 (3/1/03 - 2/28/10), DEB#0832652 (5/1/09 - 4/30/15 (Core funding)), DEB#0936498 (9/1/09 - 8/31/14 (ARRA funding)). Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in the material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.